suggestion: implemented UI suggestions

[Aura]

I'm not an expert on web design by any means, but since @Temaelrin asked for feedback, I suppose I should do my best.

The main issue I had with the UI when I first joined is that I found a lot of things difficult to find. Most roleplay sites open straight up to a forum like this site's community index. I found it really confusing that in order to even get to the main forum, I had to click through the dashboards. And I was even more confused that there's a separate dashboard for community and roleplaying. It had me convinced for a while that there were two separate forums on this site.

When you open up the homepage of a website, generally, the first things that catch your eye should be the most important features of the site, but when you open up the homepage of Ecchidreams, it seems like the most prominent parts of the page are the "Our picks," and "Last Active Clubs," sections. The latter is okay, since that's where a majority of the big roleplays seem to take place, but the former really doesn't seem important enough to warrant such prominence on the homepage. Yes, it's a great way to inform all members of the latest news regarding the site, but I think such information could be conveyed with maybe a news header below the banner at the top of the page? The way I'm envisioning it, I would have the "our picks" section moved to the sidebar where the links to the community and roleplay dashboards are. In the newly created free space, I would put links to various prominently visited pages, most importantly, the community index, along with other links such as a list of threads the user is following, ecchi chat, the gallery, etc. I think you'd find that these pages would get a lot more traffic if they had links on the homepage rather than hidden away across the roleplay and community dashboards or in drop-down menus. I would also like the community and roleplay indexes to be combined, I honestly can't imagine why they would need to be separated, but if there is a reason, maybe just separate them with panels inside one "dashboard" page? Also, putting a link in the Last Active Clubs section that links straight to the clubs page would be a very simple addition that would go a long way toward potentially reviving dead or dying clubs.

On another note, I have an issue with how roleplayer preferences are handled. I think I've heard one of the mods mention overhauling this feature, but I suppose I'll list more specific complaints about it here while I'm at it. In order to view a specific user's preferences, you have to either sift through the whole board on roleplayer preferences to find them which not only is hidden in the roleplayer dashboard, but also seems to have no search function, or at least no apparent search function, (I would think there should at least be a search bar added somewhere on that page, if it stays at all.) or:

1. Go to the user's profile

2. Click on "See their activity," (shockingly NOT the "about me" tab, considering not everybody has a link to their preferences there,) 

3. Ignore the massive list of recent posts by the user and instead search through the sidebar with all the tiny little categories in order to find the preferences tab

4. Click "preferences,"

5. Click the only thread that is brought up.

Either way, this is a LOT of work to expect for something as fundamental as getting to know what somebody is and isn't okay with. I feel like this should just be something that is listed right there on a user's profile, without any need for creating an entire thread to be buried in a massive unorganized list. It should be modifiable from the "edit profile" menu and there should at least be a simple "preferences" tab. It would also be nice to be able to immediately go to a user's preferences from a roleplay post without having to go to their profile at all, just by clicking a link somewhere under their profile picture.

Speaking of the edit profile menu, I think the link to it from the account settings page should be a lot more prominent. I had no idea it even existed until I went looking for it just now. I was just about to suggest adding a link there.

Again, I'm not an expert on web design by any means, but I would think all of these suggestions would really help to streamline the site for newcomers. I personally remember finding myself overwhelmed with all of the drop-down menus and hidden links I had to search for just for basic functions that on other sites would simply be a click away from the homepage. I hope my suggestions will be of help in improving the site